The beggar Girl

As I stopped my car at a red light, I was inevitably surrounded by beggars and peddlers. While the peddlers were easy enough to get rid off, there was one girl who was particularly tenacious and eagle eyed. She had immediately spotted the oranges next to my seat and was begging for them. 

As a principal, I never give money or objects to beggars, even children because I know that they have been put there by adults who push them to get what they can and then take it from them. So each time I give money to a beggar, I make it lucrative for an adult to push a child into begging. And so with this water-tight logic in mind, I am able to be impervious to most beggars. And yet, for some reason, I can’t forget her asking for the orange. 

Why didn’t I give the orange? I later justified to myself that she would probably have had to give it to the guy who had pushed her into begging, and would not have had it herself. But I can’t forget this incident. I wish there was something more I could do for them than just theorising and blogging about it. 

I wish I had given that beggar girl the orange irrespective of my principals.